My Two Cents
Afternoon, folks! We’re stating the new week here at The Bits with a couple of new disc reviews, including...
Tim’s take on Daniel Attias’ Silver Bullet: Collector’s Edition in 4K Ultra HD, as well as his thoughts on our old friend John Harrison’s Tales from the Darkside: The Movie – Collector’s Edition in 4K Ultra HD, both of them from Scream Factory.
Speaking of Scream, Shout Studios has also begun revealing some of their March catalog titles, which thus far are set to include Jonathan Kaplan’s Over the Edge (1979) on Blu-ray on 3/5, Mick Garris’ The Shining miniseries (1997) on Blu-ray on 3/12, Simon Wincer’s Quigley Down Under (1990) in 4K as a Shout! Select title also on 3/12, and a trio of additional 4K titles on 3/19... Lars Klevberg’s Child’s Play (2019), Kimberly Peirce’s Carrie (2013), and Kathryn Bigelow’s K-19: The Widowmaker (2002).
Meanwhile, the big news today is that Marvel and Disney have officially announced the Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD release of Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels (2023) for release on 2/13, with the Digital release expected on 1/16. Extras will include audio commentary with DaCosta and VFX supervisor Tara DeMarco, 2 featurettes (Entangled and The Production Diaries), 4 deleted scenes, and a gag reel. There will also be a 4K Steelbook edition that’s exclusive to Walmart. Audio on the 4K (a UHD-66 disc) will be Dolby Atmos, with DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray. You can see the cover artwork at left and also below.
Also, Universal and DreamWorks Animation have listed the CG-animated Trolls Band Together (2023) for Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K UHD release on 7/1 on Amazon, though that’s probably a placeholder date. Whatever the final street date ends up being, look for a Trolls 3-Movie Collection on Blu-ray and DVD that same day. [Read on here...]
We’re finishing the week here at The Bits first with more new disc reviews, including…
Stuart’s take on Fran Rubel Kuzui’s Tokyo Pop (1988) and Michael Powell’s The Edge of the World (1937) both on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.
Dennis’ thoughts on Allen Baron’s Blast of Silence (1961) on Blu-ray from Criterion, Josh Greenbaum’s Strays (2023) on Blu-ray from Universal, Bernard Girard’s Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966) on Blu-ray from Imprint Films, and Val Guest’s The Quartermass Xperiment (1955) on Blu-ray from Hammer Films via Kino Lorber Studio Classics.
And Stephen’s review of The Films of Doris Wishman: The Daylight Years on Blu-ray from AGFA, Something Weird, and Vinegar Syndrome, Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen – Parts One and Two (2023) on 4K Ultra HD from Warner Bros. and DC, and Jannik Hastrup and Flemming Quist Møller’s animated classic Benny’s Bathtub (1971) on Blu-ray from Deaf Crocodile via Vinegar Syndrome.
As always, more reviews are forthcoming next week, so be sure to watch for them.
Also, we’ve posted a few interesting things on our new Patreon page, including a new film review (not a disc review) from Stephen of Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One (2023) as well as a blog post from yours truly about the future 4K Ultra HD plans of a major studio we tend to talk a lot about here at the site. I’ll have more to say about that subject here on The Bits in the weeks and months ahead, but the blog posts I’ve been doing on Patreon felt like the more appropriate place to vent a little bit on the subject. [Read on here...]
Well, folks... it’s a new year and time to get right back into the thick of things in terms of physical media news. And we have a bunch to catch you up on here at The Bits today.
Before we get started though, I wanted to call your attention to Michael Coate’s latest History, Legacy & Showmanship column here at The Bits, which we posted on New Year’s Eve. It features a great retrospective and roundtable interview with film historians celebrating the 50th anniversary of George Lucas’ classic American Graffiti (1973). Its 9 pages and 17 chapters are packed with great reading, so do be sure to check it out.
I’d also like to start the new year by with another quick Patreon pitch: If you believe in the work we do here at The Bits in support of physical media, we’d like to ask you to consider becoming a supporter of the site on Patreon. I’ve been sharing exclusive blog posts there, and it’s becoming a great little community—a fun and welcoming place to share your love of Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD with fellow enthusiasts. You can join for as low as $6 a month (or as much as you’d like to contribute) and it really makes a difference in helping us to grow and continue our work here at the site. So thank you!
Now then, the big news item this afternoon is that Lionsgate has just officially set Francis Lawrence’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes for Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD release on 2/13, with the Digital release due on 1/30. There will also be a Walmart-exclusive 4K Steelbook release on 2/13. The 4K and Blu-ray will include the following special features: audio commentary with Lawrence and producer Nina Jacobson, the 8-part Predator or Prey: Making The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes documentary (note that both the commentary and documentary are exclusive to the physical release), Rachel Zegler’s The Hanging Tree music video, the A Letter to the Fans featurette, and the theatrical trailer. You can see the 4K cover art at left and also below.
FYI, Lionsgate is also releasing John Woo’s Silent Night (2023) on Blu-ray and DVD on 1/30. The film stars Joel Kinnaman (of For All Mankind fame). [Read on here...]
Our Ten* Favorite Discs of 2023 & Happy New Year from All of Us at The Digital Bits! (*Give or Take)
Welcome to 2024, Bits readers!
So this exercise started out as an effort to compile Ten Favorite Discs of 2023 lists from each member of The Digital Bits team. But one thing led to another… and how do you pick just ten?
What we have instead is essentially just our individual picks for our favorite titles of the year that was in 2023. And with so many great titles to choose from—many of them all arriving at once—it’s almost certain that we’ve overlooked worthy titles.
But what follows is at least a great start for discussion. There are lists from each of us, along with any comments our team members felt like including with them.
And if you can think of great titles we’re missing here, please share them with us on social media! [Read on here...]
Afternoon, folks! I certainly hope that those of you who celebrate it have had a great Christmas holiday, and that the rest of you are enjoying the holiday season.
I’ve got just a quick update here for you today and I’ll post a little more as the week goes on. This time of year there’s typically very little news-wise worth reporting, but there are some odds and ends to cover.
First though, I want to catch you up on the latest disc reviews we’ve posted here at The Bits since our last news post last week. Now available for your reading pleasure here are...
My reviews of James Cameron’s Avatar: Collector’s Edition (2009) and Avatar: The Way of Water – Collector’s Edition (2022) in 4K Ultra HD from Lightstorm and 20th Century Studios.
Tim’s thoughts on Richard Donner’s Scrooged: 35th Anniversary Edition (1988) in 4K from Sony and George Mihalka’s My Bloody Valentine: Collector’s Edition (1981) in 4K from Scream Factory.
Dennis’ takes on David Gordon Green’s The Exorcist: The Believer (2023) in both Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD from Universal, as well as Oren Rudavsky’s The Treatment (2006) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber, and Richard Attenborough’s In Love and War (1996) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.
Stephen’s reviews of Charles Kaufman’s Mother’s Day (1980) in 4K from Troma via Vinegar Syndrome, Emma Tammi’s Five Nights at Freddy’s in 4K from Universal, and Ti West’s Pearl (2022) in 4K from A24 via Turbine Media.
And finally Stuart’s look at Succession: The Complete Series on DVD from HBO, Alain Resnais’ La Guerre est finie (1966) on Blu-ray from The Film Desk and Vinegar Syndrome, and Paul Lynch’s The Hard Part Begins (1973) on Blu-ray from Canadian International Pictures via Vinegar Syndrome. [Read on here...]